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Latino youths need better education for Arizona to take full advantage of
the possibilities their exploding population offers. Arizona's fast-growing
Latino population offers the state tremendous promise and a challenge. Even more
than the aging of the baby boomers, the Latino boom is fundamentally reorienting
the state's economic and social structure.
Immigration and natural increase have added 600,000 young Latino residents
to the state's population in the past decade. Half of the population younger
than 18 in both Phoenix and Tucson is now Latino. Within 20 years, Latinos will
make up half of the homegrown entry-level labor pool in the state's two largest
labor markets.
What is more, Hispanics are becoming key economic players. Most people
don't notice it, but Latinos born in Arizona make up much of their immigrant
parents' economic and educational deficits. For example, second-generation
Mexican-Americans secure an average of 12 grades of schooling where their
parents obtained less than nine. That means they erase 70 percent of their
parents' lag behind third-generation non-Hispanic Whites in a single
generation.
All of this hands the state a golden opportunity. At a time when many
states will struggle with labor shortages because of modest population growth,
Arizona has a priceless chance to build a populous, hardworking and skilled
workforce on which to base future prosperity. The problem is that Arizona and
its Latino residents may not be able to seize this opportunity. Far too many of
Arizona's Latinos drop out of high school or fail to obtain the basic education
needed for more advanced study. As a result, educational deficits are holding
back many Latinos - and the state as well. To be sure, construction and low-end
service jobs continue to absorb tens of thousands of Latino immigrants with
little formal education. But over the long term, most of Arizona's Latino
citizens remain ill-prepared to prosper in an increasingly demanding knowledge
economy.
For the reason, the educational uplift of Arizona's huge Latino population
must move to the center of the state's agenda. After all, the education deficits
of Arizona's Latino population will severely cramp the fortunes of hardworking
people if they go unaddressed and could well undercut the state's ability to
compete in the new economy. At the entry level, slower growth rates may create
more competition for low-skill jobs, displacing Latinos from a significant means
of support. At the higher end, shortages of Latinos educationally ready to move
up will make it that much harder for knowledge-based companies staff high-skill
positions.
【试题】
1. The Latino population is changing Arizona's__________________.
A) aging problem B) educational system
C) economic structure D) financial deficits
2. What can be inferred from the third paragraph?
A) The Latino population in Arizona is made up of Hispanics and
Mexican-Americans.
B) The first-generation Latinos are immigrants instead of being born in
America.
C) 70 percent of the first-generation Latinos had less schooling than nine
years.
D) The educational system used to be in favor of the non-Hispanic
Whites.
3. "Educational deficits" (Line 7. Para. 4) most probably means
that______________.
A) the state did not put much money into education
B) many Latinos are too poor to obtain education
C) education is not a profitable enterprise
D) many Latinos are not well-educated
4. According to the author. Arizona should give highest priority
to________________.
A) controlling the Latino population
B) enhancing the educational level of the Latino population
C) improving the knowledge-based economy
D) building the Latino population into hardworking and skilled
workforce
5. It is implied that in the long run most Latinos in Arizona
will_______________.
A) be jobless B) be badly-paid
C) do low-skill jobs D) do high-skill jobs
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发表于 2018-8-4 09:07:07